At First Sight

Chapter 7: Awkward

I knew Charlie was coming over to fish with Billy and Harry on Saturday, so I stayed away all day not wanting to run into him. I didn’t want to be reminded about what happened. And I felt stupid too. I had no right to be this bummed out. It was just a stupid crush, why was I making this into something more than that? And yet, I felt in my gut that this was something more than just a crush. Not that I would have told anyone about that.

As I headed home for dinner, I saw Harry’s truck still parked in our driveway. The door was wide open and the sound of their agitated voices made me stop in my tracks.

“You agree, though, that we have to say something to him, right?” Billy demanded urgently.

“Yes, absolutely. But how? You know Charlie has a hard head when it comes to this.” Harry’s voice was uncharacteristically low and worried.

“I just don’t understand. Why are they socializing in Forks? Old Quil said that they usually keep to themselves,” Billy asked.

“Who knows, maybe things have changed. Just go talk to him.”

I heard Harry get up from the chair and walk towards the door. Not wanting to be caught eaves-dropping, I backed up hastily but ended up tripping over the ramp and falling down hard against the porch railing. Harry and Billy were both at the doorway when I got up. I smiled apologetically as Harry patted my shoulder on his way to his truck. Billy watched me carefully as I went into the kitchen to pour myself something to drink.

“Jake. I need you to drive me to Charlie’s tomorrow,” Billy said gently but firmly.

“I know, I heard you guys when I came back,” I responded equally gently but firmly. “But I don’t understand what you’re planning to warn him about.”

Billy gave me a long level look. And suddenly, I knew what they were talking about it. I had suspected it based on the weird vibes he was giving off to Bella on Thursday, but I had dismissed it as my own overreaction.

“This is about the Cullens, right?” I asked angrily. I hadn’t realized how pissed I was until I said it. “This is why you acted so weirdly to Bella on Thursday, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Billy said with a stern voice. “And I do not like your tone, young man.”

I forced myself to clamp down on my anger. I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Billy was very big about controlling your temper, which of course, was one of the things that I totally sucked at.

“You know what I’m talking about. You gave her all those weird looks that night,” I pressed on. “It had to do with that Cullen kid, didn’t it?”

Billy replied calmly, “You know what our legends say about them. And since she doesn’t seem to understand the full extent of the danger, Harry and I feel that we need to warn Charlie about this.”

“But they’re legends, folklore, mythology – whatever you want to call them!” My voice escalated as the frustration from the past few days found an outlet. “They aren’t true! I don’t understand why you treat them as if they were!”

This wasn’t the first time we had had this argument. I felt like I was talking to a wall that talked back, for all the progress I had made about this stupid tribal prejudice.

“How do you know they aren’t true?” he asked.

“Vampires? Werewolves? Are you kidding me?” I ground out scathingly. “They’re just stories! I swear, you’re going to start telling me that the tooth fairy exists next!”

“You still haven’t answered my question. I agree that it may seem hard to believe, but you don’t have any proof that the stories aren’t real,” Billy observed calmly.

“I can’t have this conversation with you. It’s ridiculous. I just don’t get it. Don’t you see how this makes you a hypocrite, dad? You tell me how important it is to be fair and open-minded, and yet you go around badmouthing people you don't even know! Don’t you realize that it makes us look bad? Like a bunch of lowlife superstitious natives?!”

I pounded the table in frustration. This whole thing had never made any sense. It was entirely out of character for my dad to behave like this and I couldn’t understand for the life of me what was driving it.

“I know you don’t understand it. But you will one day,” Billy replied gently. “One day, you will know far more than you would ever want to know.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demanded angrily. What kind of a response was that?

“It means that we’re not talking about this anymore. I know you’re frustrated about the … uh …the Bella situation … so you can’t talk rationally about this right now,” Billy acknowledged.

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe that he was lecturing me about talking rationally. He was the one who was about to warn his best friend about the existence of vampires in Forks!

“Look, she won’t be there tomorrow,” Billy continued, “Charlie said that she’s going to be out all day, probably with the Cullen kid. You won’t have to see her. Just drive me there in the afternoon, I’ll talk to Charlie and we’ll leave.”

I glared at him. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this.

“Please, Jake. It’s important to me.”

I shrugged finally, barely managing to avoid doing an eye-roll, as I put my hands up in defeat. I knew he wouldn't let this rest so it was better to just get it over with. I just prayed that she wouldn't be there to witness my further humiliation.

It was drizzling as we pulled up to Charlie’s house the next day. The driveway was empty – no cruiser or orange truck. Clearly, no one was home. I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn't realized that I had been holding my breath the whole drive over.

“We’ll wait until he gets back,” Billy said.

I looked at him in disbelief. I still couldn’t believe that he was serious about this. I parked and slouched down further in my seat so that I was barely visible through the side window.

“I think we should wait on the porch. It’ll be nice to get some fresh air,” Billy continued.

I glared at him again. It was drizzling outside and the weather was damp and ridiculously unpleasant. But if that was what he wanted, I wasn’t going to fight it. I just wanted this to be over. I helped him out of the truck and situated us on the front porch to wait. We heard the truck coming before it pulled up, the familiar rumbling of the engine as it pulled up the street.

Damnit. I thought Charlie said that Bella wouldn’t be here. I glanced at Billy quickly, but he seemed as surprised as I was. Even though I knew that she would be unhappy to see us, I couldn’t help but turn my head in anticipation of her arrival. But as the truck pulled around the corner, I saw immediately that Bella was sitting in the passenger seat of the car. Which of course, could only mean one thing.

I stared down immediately, completely horrified. It was bad enough that we were here. But for her to show up. And with him? What must he think of us? Or me? The lovesick puppy with an unrequited crush on his girlfriend? Great. As if I didn’t feel stupid enough about the whole thing.

I looked up just in time to see the Cullen guy kiss her lightly. And it hurt. It really hurt. Even though I had known that he was her boyfriend, seeing proof of it in person was more depressing that I had expected. And I wasn’t the only one rattled by it. Billy clutched the armrests of his chair, not letting out his breath until Bella hopped out of the truck and made a dash through the rain towards us.

"Hey, Billy. Hi, Jacob," Bella greeted us cheerfully, though I could detect the forced politeness in her tone. "Charlie's gone for the day — I hope you haven't been waiting long."

She was dressed up, wearing a skirt and a blue shirt that clung to her delicate curves in all the right ways. The color of the shirt also warmed her pale skin and she looked amazing – her cheeks were flushed a rosy pink and her eyes were happy, deliriously happy. I felt a stab of jealousy mixed with a weird sense of contentment at seeing her so happy. I just wished that I could be the one to put that smile on her face.

"Not long," Billy said in a subdued tone. "I just wanted to bring this up." He indicated the sack of Harry’s fish fry that had served as the excuse for our visit.

"Thanks," she said, clearly confused. "Why don't you come in for a minute and dry off?" She unlocked the door quickly and waved us in ahead of her as she held open the door. “Here, let me take that," she offered as she took the package and neatly shut the door behind us. I could still see the Cullen kid waiting in the truck outside.

"You'll want to put it in the fridge," Billy noted as he handed over the package. "It's some of Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry — Charlie's favorite. The fridge keeps it drier."

"Thanks," she replied with a smile at Billy. "I was running out of new ways to fix fish, and he's bound to bring home more tonight."

"Fishing again?" Billy asked with a subtle gleam in his eye. "Down at the usual spot? Maybe I'll run by and see him."

"No," she said quickly, her face turning pink. "He was headed someplace new… but I have no idea where."

It was completely obvious that she was lying. Clearly she and I were cut from the same cloth when it came to our inability to tell lies. Billy looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before he replied, "Jake, why don't you go get that new picture of Rebecca out of the car? I'll leave that for Charlie, too."

"Where is it?" I asked. I could barely look at her or at him. I didn’t know what to think. On one hand, I wanted to be around to do damage control in case Billy started in on her, but on the other hand, I just didn’t want to have anything to do with the whole situation.

"I think I saw it in the trunk," Billy said. "You may have to dig for it."

I figured that distancing myself was the better of the two evils, so I went outside to “look” for the photo. I knew as well as Billy did that the photo from Rebecca was sitting on our kitchen table, but I had to play along. I was surprised to see Bella's truck still sitting out in the driveway, but it was empty now. Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard a car pull up to the driveway in the last few minutes, so how on earth did the Cullen kid get home? Did he walk? I heard they lived far from town so that didn’t seem possible.

I climbed back into the car to avoid the rain as I waited out whatever awkward conversation was going on inside the house. I closed my eyes as I deeply wished that I could be anywhere but here. Five minutes passed and I figured that I couldn’t stretch out my “search” any longer, so I trudged back through the mud to the house. I opened the door loudly, wanting to announce my arrival in case they were still talking about anything that I didn’t want to be a part of.

"There's no picture anywhere in that car," I complained loudly.

"Hmm," Billy grunted as he spun his chair around to face me. "I guess I left it at home."

I caught his eye and he knew that I wasn’t fooled, but I rolled my eyes for Bella’s sake. “Great.”

"Well, Bella, tell Charlie that we stopped by," Billy said amiably.

"I will," Bella responded softly but her eyes were guarded and wary.

"Are we leaving already?" I was surprised. I had expected Billy would wait until Charlie arrived before leaving.

"Charlie's gonna be out late," Billy explained as he rolled himself past me.

"Oh." Damnit. I was hoping that this would be resolved today. That Billy would tell Charlie and Charlie could laugh him off and then I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this humiliation anymore. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, then, Bella."

"Sure," she said with a warm smile. Damnit. That smile of hers still did stupid things to me even though I knew I shouldn’t let it.

"Take care," Billy said as I helped him out the door. She waved to us as we made our way to the truck, but she shut the door before we even got in. Clearly, Billy had said something to upset her. I rolled my eyes, trying not to get too pissed off at the whole situation..

I was suddenly grateful for the existence of the treaty, which meant that Billy couldn't actually tell her the crazy stories. Of course, I had already told her all of them, but I didn't want her to know that my father actually believed them. I didn’t even want to know that my father actually believed them. And so, for the second time that week, we sat in dead silence as I drove us home through the pouring rain.

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